Moving on
Isnβt politics brutal? There sat Ming Campbell, visibly moved, as - just - as the leader of the Liberal Democrats.
And the emotion that was visible? Partly pride that his erstwhile protΓ©gΓ© has made it to the top. But partly regret.
Interviewed by the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ, Sir Menzies said it was a βday for looking forward, not looking backβ.
Maybe so - and Nick Clegg praised him warmly - but Ming must know, he does know, that his own leadership term scarcely enhanced his own reputation, which was previously highly burnished.
Sitting next to Sir Menzies at the declaration was Vince Cable. He stood in as leader for a couple of months β drawing praise on all sides, most notably when he caricatured Gordon Brown as moving effortlessly βfrom Stalin to Mr Beanβ.
How Ming Campbell must wish he had confined himself to a period of relatively untesting interim leadership.
He declined to contest the top job when Charles Kennedy first won.
How he must wish he had stuck to that approach after Charles stood down.
I suppose, to a certain extent, you choose your luck. Ming Campbell chose to become leader, for real, after a period of extraordinary turmoil in his own party.
Vince Cable became leader, for a spell, during a period of extraordinary turmoil β in Gordon Brownβs government.
Now itβs Nick Cleggβs turn. He takes charge with the LibDems out of office in Scotland β and under general assault from rivals, especially the Tories.
Mr Cleggβs opening address was, inevitably, somewhat platitudinous. Listen to the people, unite, engage.
Perhaps heβll take another tip from Vince Cable who has engaged with popular culture by performing on Strictly Come Dancing.
Never mind the Single Transferable Vote, Nick, howβs your pasa doble?
I'm 
Comments
Never mind this non story Brian... why the media blackout with the latest Wendy Alexander cash scandal, as revealed by the Sunday Times?
Why does it take a London based paper to report what the Scottish media will not?
Will you provide us with an answer?
The people are waiting.
The discussion topics on this blog seems to cover Westminster politics, and other subjects of little or no political interest.
Why can't Scottish politics be covered here, or is everybody trying to keep hush hush about things at the moment, in the hope that the problems facing the opposition will go away?
Nick Clegg is from the same stable as David Cameron and Tony Blair. Privately educated slick Oxbridge type, full of flim-flam, and who has never done a decent day of hard work in his life.
Where do they get these clones from?
The boy looks quite interesting to me. Notwithstanding the tirade of bile that will inevitably flow from the cyberNats who devote their lives to filling these weblogs (the man's not a Nationalist after all - how dare he exist!!), it is important to most real people that Westminster politics has fresh faces able to articulate different visions. Ming Campbell just didn't have it. Nick Clegg might. We'll see.
En passent, Brian - I really like your blog. It's one of the few I look at on a regular basis. But there does seem to be a lack of rhythm to the number of messages you post. We seem to go for days without any updates, and then you do 2 or 3 in one day, and then we get a few days fallow again. I know you're at the mercy of events to some extent, and you can't comment on a thing until it happens. But much better to try and space your entries out a bit more, no?
Cheers,
RM
So the Lib-Dums have selected "Calamity Clegg" not even the third best man for the job.1 Vince Cable - a breath of fresh air. 2 Charlie Kennedy - likeable and a leader 3 Chris Huhme - at least had a bit of presence. Talk about turkeys voting for xmas.
Really.....who cares about these losers? Different decisions over the last year could have seen them in power in Scotland and in Wales and with a seat in Brown's cabinet. Now, they are - at best - a comedy sideshow at Westminster and, at Holyrood, Nicol Stephen is nothing more than Bendy Wendy's puppet. Any credibility they ever had has now completely evaporated.
Forget the pasa doble, Brian, the big question North of the Border is:
Is there now a 'Knavish Plot' to dump the hapless Nicol Stephen as leader of the Lib Dem Party in Scotland??
You are our 'political insider' - the nation needs to know - and, even more so, does the leader of the Westminster Bendy Party in Scotland!!
Ming is no longer the leader of the Lib Dems?
I must pay more attention, I really must.
Tend to agree with comment no1. Well come on Brian what you waiting for. lol
How on earth has Nicol Stephen survived? Maybe with the election for a national leader over, Nicol will be under increased pressure. The Lib Dems in Scotland are increasingly a party of the Highlands - their traditional border base seems to be increasingly fertile Tory ground. I can't see Nicol, Tavish or Nick stopping the rot.
Does anybody care?
Canβt be any worse than Ming anyway! Enough excuses, Ming was mince, the reason he had to be replaced was nothing to do with his age. The new boy looks like another Cameron to me, but we will see. Vince Cable surprised everyone after all!
So long as he has more integrity than Scots LibDem leader Nicol Stephen! I would include a standard derogatory remark, but I do not enjoy the immunity Nicol apparently does to throw about completely unsubstantiated allegations.
OK Clegg won, done. Now I think the plans to shove our booze prices up to stop our binge drinking culture is more of a story. I'd love a good blogg on that Brian.
Who cares who leads the Lib Dems in Westminster? It's who leads them in Holyrood that's an embarrassment to Scotland. When even international businessmen tell Nicol Stephen to stop being childish, surely even the muddle-headed Lib Dems must realise that he has to go. And if that upsets Bendy Wendy - well, once the Scottish media get back to the real big story in Scotland, she's unlikely to be in a position to control even the Labour party.
"I suppose, to a certain extent, you choose your luck."
No Brian, it's entirely out of your control. That's why it's called, er, "luck"!! Duh!
Really totally sick of the poor quality of this "blog" which is really just poorly-disguised propaganda - and badly-written propaganda at that. I'm off to spend time on more useful things.
Menzies Campbell WAS a good leader, only brought down by snide remarks over his age. In any other industry you would be looking at constructive dismissal - and probably damages against the whisperers.
Menzies is easily the greatest politician never to lead a party into an election. I'm done with the libs though - that it came from within the party really guts me. SNP for me from now on. They, at least, are going somewhere.
Brian-isn't this supposed to be a SCOTTISH blog?
Whats your take on Nicol Stephen's blatherings up here? And ditto the Mooth of the Sooth?(more donor madness)
Sorry-I forget-you've been given your orders-don't mention the war!
Ayrshireman you dont know much about Scottish politics if you think the LDs are a party of the Highlands. They have constituency MSPs and MPs in Fife, Borders, Aberdeenshire, Edinburgh and Dumbartonshire, as well as regional MSPs covering Glasgow, central Scotland + south of Scotland. Oh and they help control 13 of the 32 councils (Highland isnt one of them!!!) More representation than EVER before.
It seems there's more than just a few 'rabid nats' who are sick of the stench of anti-SNP bias eminating from the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ, Scottish tabloids (that's all of them) and even this blog. And a good thing too!
Days and days of innuendo, accusation and threat, only for the story to drop like a stone when Nicol is given a dressing-down and has to take his ball home. Brian YOU KNOW THIS IS HAPPENING. Politicians cannot just throw words like 'sleaze' around with no justification. It is wrong. Just as it is wrong for a compliant media to record them as fact, only to close their eyes and put their fingers to their ears when it all comes to its inevitable conclusion.
You want sleaze Brian? You know where to find it. REPORT IT.
PS: I think Clegg should move over for the good of the party and give Cable till the next election. Don't think it'd make much difference but the media seem to like him and that always helps when in a rut - eh Wendy?
15. At 08:06 PM on 18 Dec 2007, Archie Andrews wrote:
Really totally sick of the poor quality of this "blog" which is really just poorly-disguised propaganda - and badly-written propaganda at that. I'm off to spend time on more useful things.
For what it is worth I quite enjoy reading this blog. I suppose that preference is what lies behind my decision to carry on reading this blog.
If pressed as to why I continue to read the (largely farcical) comments which follow it then i would struggle to mount a similar argument.
I've got to agree with many of the posters querying the content of this blog. As a recent "discoverer" of Scottish political blogging I find much of it irrelevant to the Scottish scene or just plain not very interesting.
Not that matters furth of Scotland are necessarily of lower interest to our political landscape, just many of the ones you seem to pick.
p.s. Whatever happened to Wendy?
I'm believe that Michael Jackson and his siter are one and the same person,I'm aware that when Micahel Owen is injured,Johnny Wilkinson is not,this leaves me deeply suspicious,however,is it possible that the next time Nick Clegg speaks we know the whereabouts of one David Cameron at that time?
Wansanshoo.
The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ really should change its name as soon as possible. Your reports could then read something like this:
Good Morning Scotland, this is all the news that's new and approved by the Labour party - our leaders and friends.
Presenter 1: Is Labour corrupt by accepting illegal donations?
Presenter 2: Possibly, if they were the SNP this would be a story. But, who can get mad at Wendy - oye vay, what a looker.
Presenter 1: But what about Computers for Labour?
Presenter 2: Well, Labour need computers. You know the SNP eat babies don't you?
Okay, a slight exageration for effect, but this is what the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ is like these days. Ever since the opening of the new building when Gordon Bean Brown reminded ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Scotland of their role in maintaining the union.
I was a Lib Dem voter until the last Scottish Parliament elections. Not likely to go back to them in a hurry for some considerable time now that they have David Cameron II in the mother of all parliaments and Nicol "Trump This!" Stephen in the Scottish Parliament, who's making a complete mockery of the big issues that most Scots want them to deal with.
Will be an interesting general election if Gordon ever calls one! The Lib Dems are going to take a hammering this time around IMHO.
... and as everyone else is mentioning it... what's happening with Wendygate? It is almost as if the Scottish press are members of the Wee Wendy Fan Club!
I watched the speech of the new Liberal leader and found it uninspiring, he looks like Tony Blair and David Cameron but sounds like a cross between John Major and William Hague; he is not a good orator.
Todayβs non event is the announcement of the bronze medal winner; the leader of a party with policies which appeal only to a minority of the British electorate.
Liberals will continue to be a Westminster sideshow.
Heavens forbid we are ever delivered of a hung parliament; at one time in my past I considered what options a coalition Government could deliver, possibly balance and the removal of extremism from successive Governments?
Coalition at Westminster and Holyrood failed to deliver any of these potential promises, merely instead offering to the country at large and Scotland in particular a traded off percentage of a minority ideology delivered as a reward for their numerical support to the βminorityβ winning political party.
If the people wanted Liberal policies they would vote them into power.
The relevance of the LibDem's at Westminster to Scottish politics awaits translation of their policies into a manifesto to influence the outcome of the next General Election. If hung, the parties of elective dictatorship will have to listen and key LibDem policies could be implemented. If they hold fast to their "For the People, By the People" policy for decentralisation and constitutional, parliamentary and electoral reform with the sovereignty of the people at its heart could come about:
Clegg clearly believes the liberal thread is what binds Britain:
It remains to be seen if the LibDems' liberalism will stop at the federated model of power devolved is power retained, or develop to encompass the confederated antithesis which uniquely accommodates pro-Independence and pro-Union preferences.
But our own Union can wait awhile. The real crisis before us is that other Union. Yes/no to this constitution treaty? If no, in or out? If in, should our relationship be intergovernmental, confederated or federated? We need that promised Referendum to decide and notify our preference to Europe. So do the other 75% of people across Europe who wish to express their preference. And there is no rush to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. In fact, it would be best not to if the EU is to develop in accordance with the self-determined wishes of the european peoples.
Unions of liberty, equality and friendship - is that not so?
Brian,
Mr Clegg is a non story - how does it affect Scotland - it does not.
Lid Dems will continue to be a spent force until they grow up and strike out on their own. Hiding under the Scottish regional section of UK London based Labour missing bushel is not now an option, they are exposed as vacuous, they need their own distinctive Scottish voice.
Best thing they could do would be to fire Nicol Stephen and Mike Rumbles, both are spoilers with no ambition, original idea and are merely content to criticise and carp at others who have to make tough decisions to make, e.g. Donald Trumpβs tourist facility.
I like others in this blog have to wonder why the most recent allegations against Wendy Alexander and the Scottish regional section of UK London based Labour have not been aired on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ TV. Is this censorship by Brownβs contacts in the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ in London?
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ is totally committed to the Union, but that should not stop them from telling the news objectively, otherwise ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ leave itself open to scorn and ridicule that they censoring damaging Union news, yet publicise anti Scottish nationalist news, i.e. ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ is a Unionist propaganda machine.
Can we have a debate on Wendy Alexander and the Scottish regional section of UK London based Labour and their financial funding irregularities. We now have time to examine all the evidence and be more objective. I wonder if Henry McLeish would call this serious affair βmore of a fiddle than a muddleβ?
May I take this opportunity to wish you Brian and all the readers a merry Christmas and happy new year!
Dunc Mc
Is a cleg not one of those big blood sucking horse-fly thingies?
Is Vince Cable really being hailed a "success" because he gave a witty one liner. In that case perhaps Rory Bremner or Paul Merton for PM?
Sorry Ross. I really meant that the Lib Dems are doing wonderfully well and Nicol Stephen is politician of the year. You've got the odd (and some really odd) MPs and MSPs scattered about Scotland, but you're on the slide in the borders. As for your point of councils, under the new system, all parties have fingers in all sorts of pies under the new system.
Another early 40's political clone..is there a factory that make them? Must be in China.
I agree with No.13's comment on the booze hike. That's a more interesting subject to blog on.
There is a long tradition of London political news being fed to Scots, I mean check out the National news!
A serious point though, if the Libdems are under discussion in Scotland and they certainly are then it is Nicol Stephen who is being discussed.
To pretend otherwise is plain daft.
Nick Robinson can tell us all about Clegg we want the lowdown on Nicol Stephens and his desperate backtracking in the trump affair. Come on Brian put your spotlight on the stories we want to read instead of the ones the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ deems suitable.
If the SNP are not worried about this investigation, regarding the Trump project, why don't they just wait for it to happen instead of throwing insults at those who called for it?
Do they have a guilty conscience?
#33 - I think you'll find that the SNP have actually welcomed this "investigation". Now then, about this illegal donor thing. . . . when is the Scottish media actually gonna report on it??